Creating "Cover Image" for Video

[Geobop]

This is obviously a beginner's question. 😉

Actually, I've got the hang of using Premier and have created a few videos that I'm pretty happy with. However, I'm trying to figure out how to create the image people see before they click on a video. What is it called - a thumbnail, or cover image?

For example, one of my videos shows nothing but a yellow frame at the very beginning when it's open in Premier. But when I export it as a video and view it in Finder on my Mac, I see a black frame with a red fist (one of the images that appears later in the video.

If I would like people to see a particular image when they view the video icon, is this something I do in Premier, or do I do it after I export the video?

I'm making most of my videos for TikTok, but I will probably publish them to other platforms as well.

Thanks!

[Moved to more appropriate forum - Mod]

[Ishan Y]

Hey Geobop,

Thank you for your contribution to the community. Depending on the platform you're uploading to, you might get an option to upload the cover image separately or choose a frame within the video to set as the cover picture. The Finder might have picked a random frame from the video, but that might not be the same for the platform you're uploading to. I found this article which may be of use to you. Hope this helps. 

Thanks,

Ishan

[Ann Bens · Accepted solution]

You cannot make thumbnails isn Premiere.

Thumbnails are set by the player used.

On YouTube you can set custom thumbnails.